When did we become America

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JayADee

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#1870588 22-Sep-2017 07:17

My opinion, and that's all it is, is if in your speech you hear the h as in 'hyperactive' or 'hotel' you use a, but if you don't as in 'honourable' then you use an.

What I want to know is why our government looks to failed American laws and policies to emulate. America is not a country I want to copy!

DarthKermit

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#1870642 22-Sep-2017 08:10

Geektastic:

Even after living here for over a decade, I still meet Kiwis I can't understand sometimes - I have to get them to repeat what they said! Even more strange is the fact that this current guttural version of the Kiwi accent seems fairly modern. I have listened to a number of recorded interviews from the 40 years or so after WW2 and the accent was a great deal more refined then than it is now. I do not know what changed it.

Methinks we didn't wanna hear no poncy-sounding upper class accents on da news no more.

tripper1000

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#1870653 22-Sep-2017 08:22

andrew027:

@tripper1000: One rule is that 'an' precedes only words starting with vowels, the other rule is that 'an' precedes words starting with a vowel sound.

No, there is only one rule. Use the article 'an' before a vowel sound, and 'a' before a consonant sound. So 'an hour', 'a unicorn'.

Ja, maybe I should have phrased that more along the lines of "the two conflicting trains of thought in N.Z." The NZ department of education taught me the vowel rule in the 80's but the vowel sound does seem to be consistently the rule.

Point still stands that TV1 and TV3 screw it up, chucking an's around indiscriminately in front of pronounced H's. I'll have to check MS Word - maybe it is tailored around US pronunciation and messing it up for the news people.

Batman

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#1870811 22-Sep-2017 10:14

Geektastic:

The correct form would be 'an hotel' as in received pronunciation (BBC English) it the h in hotel is not stressed, unlike house etc.

Even after living here for over a decade, I still meet Kiwis I can't understand sometimes - I have to get them to repeat what they said! Even more strange is the fact that this current guttural version of the Kiwi accent seems fairly modern. I have listened to a number of recorded interviews from the 40 years or so after WW2 and the accent was a great deal more refined then than it is now. I do not know what changed it.

Really? The H in Hotel and Honour are not the same.

Geektastic

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#1870865 22-Sep-2017 11:13

DarthKermit:

Geektastic:

Even after living here for over a decade, I still meet Kiwis I can't understand sometimes - I have to get them to repeat what they said! Even more strange is the fact that this current guttural version of the Kiwi accent seems fairly modern. I have listened to a number of recorded interviews from the 40 years or so after WW2 and the accent was a great deal more refined then than it is now. I do not know what changed it.

Methinks we didn't wanna hear no poncy-sounding upper class accents on da news no more.

Ah yes. I had quite forgotten how much better it is hearing the news read by someone who sounds as though their IQ is smaller than their shoe size...!

Fred99

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#1870904 22-Sep-2017 12:12

Geektastic:

DarthKermit:

Geektastic:

Even after living here for over a decade, I still meet Kiwis I can't understand sometimes - I have to get them to repeat what they said! Even more strange is the fact that this current guttural version of the Kiwi accent seems fairly modern. I have listened to a number of recorded interviews from the 40 years or so after WW2 and the accent was a great deal more refined then than it is now. I do not know what changed it.

Methinks we didn't wanna hear no poncy-sounding upper class accents on da news no more.

Ah yes. I had quite forgotten how much better it is hearing the news read by someone who sounds as though their IQ is smaller than their shoe size...!

US or Euro shoe size?

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Geektastic

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#1876537 3-Oct-2017 10:11

I came across another example of Murica just telling us what to do...here we have an American court ordering the forfeiture of things located inside another sovereign nation...!

"The Supreme Court said yesterday it would not take on a case in which a lower court ordered the forfeiture of bank accounts, cars, and a property in New Zealand linked to the group."

Batman

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#1876606 3-Oct-2017 12:15

Geektastic:
I came across another example of Murica just telling us what to do...here we have an American court ordering the forfeiture of things located inside another sovereign nation...!

"The Supreme Court said yesterday it would not take on a case in which a lower court ordered the forfeiture of bank accounts, cars, and a property in New Zealand linked to the group."

We definitely are America. Except when you need aid, then don't bother asking.

Lizard1977

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#1876643 3-Oct-2017 13:47

Jase2985:

richms:

Jase2985:

petrol station

servo

kind of an ironic term now though isnt it? dont really get much service from them now.

This one makes me laugh.

For many (many) years I worked in petrol stations. During my last "tour of duty" the management issued directives preventing us from doing even the simplest of services on the forecourt, regardless of how knowledgeable or experienced we were. This created the ludicrous situation of us being unable to help a customer replace her flat battery with one that we had just sold her. I remember that she argued that we were a "service" station so we should be providing her with the appropriate service. My manager at the time corrected her, saying we were a "petrol" station, serving petrol (among other things). I remember at the time reflecting on how things had changed over the years - my first job, working at a service station, saw me trained to do plenty of simple on-site fixes - wiperblade replacements, battery replacements, oil and fluid top ups, even those temporary radiator repairs before they were deemed unsuitable and dangerous to use. I even got trained in the tyre bay to repair punctures, fit new tyres, balance, etc. Would be extremely rare to see anything like that in a petrol station today.

jimbob79

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#1876656 3-Oct-2017 13:55

Data pronunciation: "dayta" or "dahta"?

Rikkitic

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#1876708 3-Oct-2017 14:16

jimbob79:

Data pronunciation: "dayta" or "dahta"?

Just ask him which he prefers.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

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